1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tester for testing the quality of a peripheral storage device.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, a computer includes peripheral storage devices, such as hard disk drives, floppy disk drives anchor CD-ROM drives. Peripheral storage devices are tested, under predetermined circumstances, by a method called "aging," before they are introduced onto the market. Aging is performed inside an oven specially manufactured for that purpose, and subjects the devices to heat to accelerate the simulation of aging.
Exemplars of this practice in the art include Itoyama et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,837, entitled Probe Apparatus And Burn-In Apparatus, which describes forks that are slidingly moved along the convey unit, and also may be moved vertically. The forks are mounted on the lower surface of a support plate fixed to a support pillar.
Posedel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,125, entitled Reusable Die Carrier For Burn-in And Burn-In Process, describes a base to which is rotatably mounted the lid. A hook selectively retains the lid in a locked position, while Bushard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,727, entitled Run-In Test System For PC Circuit Board, describes a drawer which is slidably supported within cabinet by tracks. Circuit boards are mounted on the drawer and manually attached to various cables.
Liken et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,161, entitled Through-Port Loads Carrier And Related Test Apparatus, describes a load carrier configured to contain one or more test devices, such as printed cards used to impose a load upon the printed circuit board in a test chamber. Melgaard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,569, entitled Electronic Component Testing Oven, selected a carrier which may be connected to a desired component to ascertain its status as it is conveyed through an oven. The components are borne on a conveyer belt and unloaded and offloaded with the robots. Jones, U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,656, entitled to Burn-In Tower, describes a skeletal tower which accommodates a plurality of mounting plates for receiving devices under test. Each mounting plate includes a socket into which a semiconductor may be inserted. The mounting plate includes a plurarity of locator pins that frictionally engage sockets in the tower.
I have found that, in a typical oven, inconventional testers cannot accommodate a large number of the peripheral storage devices to be tested simultaneously because the devices are placed onto the peripheral storage device from above. I also have found that installation and removal of the peripheral storage devices from the tester is problematic.